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NFL Rewind: Vikings streak ends in Philadelphia as races tighten

The last of the National Football League's unbeaten has fallen, but the Cleveland Browns are still winless.

Minnesota's five-game win streak to open the season ended with a 21-10 loss to the Eagles in Philadelphia. The Vikings, who have relied on defense and turnovers for their success so far, were shut out of the end zone in the final minute.

Washington's win streak ended at four, leaving the New England Patriots and Detroit Lions along with the winner of the Sunday night's Seattle at Arizona game owning the longest win streaks in the league.

Cleveland (0-7) wasn't the only loser to keep on losing. The San Francisco 49ers dropped their sixth in a row, falling to Tampa Bay at home.

Three division leaders - Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Atlanta lost - lost enabling winners such as Detroit, Cincinnati and Tampa Bay to close in their respective divisions.

Only New England (6-1) in the AFC and idle Dallas (5-1) in the NFC East own more than a 1 1/2-game lead in any of the eight division races after Sunday afternoon's games.

A capsule look at Sunday's Week Seven games:

Game of the day

Chargers at Falcons

The scoop: San Diego outscored Atlanta, 16-3, in the second half and overtime, getting the upset win on a 42-yard field goal by Josh Lambo with 9:01 left in extra period. Lambo kicked four field goals in the game. Matt Bryant of the Falcons kicked three and just missed a 58-yarder on the laat play of regulation, hitting the left upright. Atlanta led 27-17 at the half and seemed in control
Why the Chargers won: After blowing leads in their first four losses. they won their second in a row behind Philip Rivers who was sacked four times and intercepted once but stood in to complete 27 of 44 for 371 yards and one touchdown to running back Melvin Gordon.

Movin' on up

Cardinals 6, Seahawks 6

The scoop: Arizona dominated the game in time of possession and yardage but had to settle for a tie after an overtime that was a comedy of errors, questionable coaching decisions and missed chip-shot field goals by each side. The Cardinals failed to hold a 6-3 lead in overtime and Chandler Catanzaro missed a 24-yard field goal off the left upright that would have won the game. However, Steve Hauschka of the Seahawks missed badly to the left on a 28 yard attempt with 11 seconds left in overtime. The Cardinals the lead in the extra session on a 45-yard field goal by Catanzaro but Seattle tied on a 36-yard kick by Hauschka. Catanzaro kicked a 46-yarder in the second quarter and the lead hedl up until Hauschka kicked a 40 yarder with 4:04 left in regulation after recovering a block punt at the Cardinals' 31. The outcome left Arizona (3-3-1) trailing Seattle (4-1-1) by 1 1/2 games in the division race.
Why nobody won: Arizona coach Bruce Arians completely muddled his overtime strategy failing to go for a field goal right away after the Cards had gained a goal-to-goal situation before Catanzaro's miss. Seattle could muster no offense until the overtime.

Raiders 33, Jaguars 16
The scoop: AFC West leader Oakland led all the way, capitalizing on three Jacksonville turnovers. One led to a field goal. Derek Carr directed the Raiders on two 75-yard touchdown drives in the second quarter on the way to a 20-6 halftime lead. Sebastian Janikowski kicked two of his four field goals in the second half, accounting for all the Oakland scoring after halftime.
Why the Raiders won: The teams were even with 344 total yards each, but two interceptions and a lost fumble by the Jaguars spelled the difference. Oakland had no turnovers.

Chiefs 27, Saints 21

The scoop: Alex Smith threw touchdown passes for 46-yards to running back Spencer Ware and 38 yards to rookie Tyreek Hill in the first half and Kansas City withstood a second half rally led by Drew Brees of the Saints. In between the two KC scoring passes, there was a 48-yard interception return by Daniel Soreensen as the Chiefs built a 21-7 lead. Brees passed for two of his three touchdown passes in the second half as he threw for 367 yards.
Why the Chiefs won: Sorensen's return was the difference. Two Cairo Santos was all the Chiefs' scoring in the second half but it was just enough.

Lions 20, Redskins 17
The scoop: Washington took its only lead of the game on a 19-yard run by quarterback Kirk Cousins with 1:05 left but Matthew Stafford passed 18 yards to Anquan Boldin with 16 seconds left to win it. The other Detroit touchdown was a 1-yard run by Zach Zenner to finish an 86-yard drive in the third quarter after a 3-3 first half.
Why the Lions won: The Redskins marched up and down Ford Field for 417 yards total offense but fumbled the ball away twice in Detroit territory - once at the 7 -- and missed a 49-yard field goal try.

Eagles 20, Vikings 10
The scoop: Minnesota lost its first after five wins despite giving up few total yards (239) then their 287.6 average going into the game. Philadelphia went in front for good on a 98-yard kickoff return by Josh Huff in the second quarter. Quarterback Carson Wentz ran in for the two point conversion. Wentz threw a 5-yard pass to Dorial Green-Beckham to make it 18-3 in the third quarter. Minnesota's touchdown did not come until there were just 34 seconds left in the game.
Why the Eagles won: The Vikings had three turnovers, two of them in the Red Zone.

Patriots 27, Steelers 16

The scoop: After an end zone interception by Malcolm Butler, Tom Brady drove New England 80 yards for the game's first score, a 19-yard pass to James, White, and the Patriots never trailed. Pittsburgh did close to 14-13 in the third quarter but Brady responded with a 36-yard pass to Rob Gronkowski. A 5-yard run by LeGarrette Blount in the fourth quarter with 3:00 left finish the Steelers. Backup QB Landry Jones, playing in place of injured Ben Roethlisberger, did his best for Pittsburgh, completing 29 of 47 for 281 yards but it wasn't enough.
Why the Patriots won: Brady was as efficient a usual and the ground game, led by Blount, outperformed the Steelers, 140-94.

Stayin' alive

Colts 34, Titans 26
The scoop: Indianapolis trailed just once after a 48-yard Ryan Succop field goal with 6:02 left in the fourth quarter. Then Andrew Luck capped a 09-yard drive with a 7-yard pass to Jack Doyle with 1:55 left and Robert Mathis returned a Marcus Mariota fumble 14 yards for another score 8 seconds later. Succup kicked a 43-yarder with 43 seconds left.
Why the Colts won: Luck had perhaps his best game of the season, completing 27 of 39 for 353 yards and a 123.1 rating. He threw no interceptions and was sacked only twice after being dropped 23 times in his first six games.

Jets 24, Ravens 16
The scoop: Ryan Fitzpatrick came on in relief of injured Geno Smith at quarterback and directed two New York comebacks. Ryan's 13-yard pass to Matt Forte with 1:45 left in the first half put New York in front, 14-13, after the Ravens had led 10-0. Baltimore regained the lead (16-14) on a 44-yard Justin Tucker field goal on the last play of the, but the Jets converted a 51-yard interception return by Buster Skine into a 22-yard Nick Folk field goal in the third quarter. Forte added a 1-yard run for the game's final score late in the third after a Ravens fumble.
Why the Jets won: They limited Baltimore to 6 yards rushing in 12 attempts and had four takeaways.

Bengals 31, Browns 17
The scoop: Big plays won it for Cincinnati. Andrew Dalton passed 44 yareds to Brandon LaFell and 48 to A.J. Green in the second quarter but the big one was a 74-yard run by Jeremy Hill for a 28-17 lead in the third quarter. Green's TD came on a Hail, Mary pass in the middle of four Browns defenders on the last play of the first half. Stanford rookie Kevin Hogan became the fifth Cleveland quarterback this season after Cody Kessler left the game with an injury. Hogan ran seven times for 104 yards including a 28-yard touchdown run just before Hill's breakaway score.
Why the Bengals won: They rolled up 559 yards against the hapless Browns/

Buccaneers at 49ers

The scoop: Tampa Bay fell behind 14-0, then scored the next 27 points to defeat the 49ers with Jameis Winston throwing three touchdown passes in the run, two to Mike Evans. A 4-yard run by Mike Davis and 17-yard pass from Colin Kaepernick to Shaun Draughn one play after a 21-yard interception return by Gerald Hodges gave the Niners their early lead.
Why the Bucs won: They rolled up 249 yards on the ground, 145 by Jacquizz Rodgers, and had 513 yards total offense.

Dog of the day

Giants 17, Rams 10 The scoop: New York converted the first of three straight interceptions thrown by Case Keenum in the fourth quarter into the only score of the second half, a 1-yard run by Rashad Jennings. Keenum's 10-yard pass to Tavon Austin gave the Rams a 7-0 first quarter lead.
Why the Giants won: The difference was a 44-yard interception return by Giants safety Landon Collins which tied the game at 10 before halftime.

News wire services contribute to this report

email: mnorthrop@buffnews.com##

Milt Northrop – Milt Northrop joined The Buffalo News in December 1967 as a copy editor in sports department. He has reported on the Braves, the Bills, the Sabres beat and bowling in the years since.